The Christmas Tales of Zui
by Rai Pager
Summary: Zui, a Zafara that feels that all her luck has ran out, runs away from home only to get the holiday adventure of her life. Not your ordinary Christmas fic. More chapters coming soon. My 1st fic here.R&R please
1. Chapter 1

**The Christmas Tales of Zui  
**_by "Rai" Pager  
Revised by: Black Rosettes_

(_Zui, (Chibi)Muffy, Rai, and Mewer and other characters I made are (c) me and Fox is (c) Nate, but their players along with Dr. Frank Sloth and other familiar characters from Neopets are (c) Neopets._)

_Prologue_  
_Sloth's New Scheme_

The black moon, Kreludor, hovered over the planet of Neopia. To Neopians on the planet, Kreludor was just known as their normal moon that provides brightness in the darkness of night. But if they only knew of the horrible secret that was crawling along on it.

"Work faster, you slackers!" A large, green Mutant Grundo cracked his whip in the air. The smaller, shackled Orange Grundos shuddered at the sound of the crack and worked suddenly quickened; pickaxes were clinking against the rock walls in a quicker tempo and mine carts, either empty or loaded with Kreludor Crystals and other minerals, being pushed in and out the mine cave. The towering S750 Kreludan Defender Robot kept watch as the Orange Grundos unloaded their mine carts onto a conveyor belt.

Another Mutant Grundo kept watch as they unloaded the mineral crystals onto the conveyor belt, "Dr. Sloth will not tolerate loafers." Its glaring red eyes made the smaller Grundos very nervous as they dropped off their collections of minerals.

The conveyor belt wheeled the minerals from the mine cave to the large building ahead that had the large sign Kreludan Mining Corp. The minerals were wheeled inside to where it was scooped up by large mechanical claw and dropped on top of a large hill of minerals. More enslaved Grundos dug through the piles of sharp, pointy crystals and rocks searching for the pure, solid Klaxon; Klaxon crystals, orange and shaped like a digon, were used as an energy source inside batteries after being liquefied. Klaxon found on Neopia was diamonds shaped and were used in batteries to power toys, flashlights, and other things that needed batteries for fuel. The digon-shaped Klaxon on Kreludan was much too powerful to use in normal batteries. Only something much bigger could handle the energy source of Kreludan Klaxon.

Under the watchful eyes of more Mutant Grundo guards, Orange Grundos sleepily searched through the hills of crystals. They had been going through piles of minerals searching for the intact crystal. Klaxon crystals that had been chipped or cracked or were blackened were thrown away; chipped and cracked crystals that had only have half of their energy and blackened crystals meant that the energy had expired, andthat's all the tired Orange Grundos have been finding.

When they did find a perfect Klaxon crystal, it was placed on another conveyor belt and wheeled into a hovering furnace to be liquefied. The Klaxon crystals slowly changed into a greenish-blue lump of jello ooze as the red hot _flames licked_ at them. They slowly turned from colloids to thick, sticky syrup as they simmered for hours in the intensely hot oven. Another Orange Grundo wearing chains tugged on a cord when the light above him turned green and the Klaxon syrup poured out of the funnel underneath the furnace and into a large, partially filled container below. The Orange Grundo released the cord when the light turned red and stood there panting because the shackles around his neck and ankles were weighing him down.

A very tall Blumaroo dressed in commander uniformstood in the doorway watching the Orange Grundo pulling and releasing the cord and the liquid Klaxon filling the basin. He turned completely around when a deep voice from behind spoke to him, "How's our Plan A coming along, Commander?"

The Blumaroo turned to the cloaked figure with three strands of hair on his head standing behind a long, circle-like desk, "It's going along very well, doctor. We should be done within a few hours if we can continue finding pure Klaxon crystal."

The cloaked being didn't move but kept staring out into space through the wide squared glass window, "Excellent. Continue on with your duties, commander, and then return to me when the vat is completely full."

The Blumaroo commander bowed to the figure and disappeared down the dark hallway. The cloaked figure sat back in his chair still staring out the window at the large planet of Neopia in front of him. The lights above him revealed the look of this being. He wore a long black lab coat around him to cover his light, puke green skin. His eyes were red just like a Grundos but they seemed to glow and were filled with so much hate and anger as he stared at the planet, growling to himself, "You all may seem merry right now, but just weight until my satellite ray gun is complete,"he chuckled. "ThenI shall be the merry one from now on and forever."


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 1_

_Not So Merry for Zui_

Thick clouds hovering over Neopia Central began to sprinkle snow on the already white and frosty ground. Everything in Neopian Central was decorated for the upcoming holiday: strings of flashing rainbow-color lights hung on the edge of every roof and around lampposts; greenwreathes with holly berries or tiny pinecones and a big red bow were hung on every door, holiday trees were in every window of either Neopian's homes or merchant shops sparkling with shiny ornaments, sparkling tinseland yellow lights. Citizens of Neopia Central were very busy around this time of year. Shop owners carefully but quickly loading their regular stock (food, medicine, etc.) to refill their shelves, but they placed their precious stocks, items that would sell greatly two or three weeks before Christmas, into their locked closets. Neopians crowded the sidewalks as they shopped for the desired gifts for their pets, loved ones, or children or foodthey would need to prepare a great feast. Weary shoppers took shelter in temperature-controlled tents set up around Neopia Square and sipped hot cocoawhile staring mindlessly up at the very tall holiday tree that was decorated with more ornaments and lights than anyone could count.

The overly excited Neopians, of course, were the little ones. They heard the stories of the Saint Yurble, a Christmas Yurble with a snow white beard that wears a red coat and cap and glides through the sky on a sleigh led by eight tiny Cougies with a giant bag of toys and treats for all the good little Neopets all across Neopia. Of course, at a mature age, most Neopet adolescents believed this 'Saint Yurble' as nothing but afairy taleto help ease restless little ones to sleep on Christmas Eve (known as Giving Day to traditional Neopians), but one Neopet began to believe and hope that there was such a Neopet that could help her, and especially with her problems getting worse everyday.

Students ran excitedly around in their classrooms as they snacked on cakes and treats placed for them on the table. To congratulate the children on all their hard work for the semester, each teacher surprised their students with a Christmas party with well-made decorations, a holiday tree in the middle of the room, and doing nothing all day but snack on treats, watch holiday movies, and play board games.

It was only eleven o' clock and the students were still rambunctious. All the students in Mrs. Ginger's class talked to each other while they snacked on Faerie food from the table. Mrs. Ginger gave each student goodie bags; a sturdy cardboard bag decorated to look like faerie wings filled with small fun toys for the student. All the students kept their goodie bags close as hateful eyes watched out the cornersat the well-known snobby Neopian who would use her charm to try and sneakily trade their bags filled with treats for one filled with broken toys or balls of frozen mud.

One side of the room that was decorated with expensive Faerie furniture was reserved for the Royal Girls of Neopia (and thankfully there were only four of them living there). These girls came from very wealthy families who thought it would be better to raise their children in a normal place like Neopia Central instead of spoiling them in the kingdoms of Meridell or Brightvale. Although they were doomed to live with _poor_, these girls demanded that they be treated like royalty. They pouted and whined when they couldn't get everyone to bow to them every time they walked by, but they accepted having their own furnished spot in the classroom when a party like today's was planned and a specially reserved table just for them at lunch time.

The girls sat in their favorite bean bag chairs around the Lavender Faerie Coffee Table while they politely nibbled on Faerie Bonbons, Faerie Pastries, and slices of Faerie Festival Cake and sipped Strawberry Butter Tea with the dipping chocolate sticks. The head of the Royal Girls was a Royal Girl Usul named Ophelia. She wore a long, purpledress that matched with her royal cone hat that had a sparkling indigo silk lace swaying at the top. Her bright eyes, long pink hair, and perfect smile might have made others think she was a sweet girl with a matching personality, but the glares she got and ignored from her classmates as she laughed loudly told a different story.

Mrs. Ginger, a Faerie Ixi with small framed glasses, walked up to the Royal Girls and spoke softly, "Girls, do you mind keeping your voices down just a bit? The other students can't hear the movie."

Out of her view, Ophelia rolled her eyes and she and the three other Royal Girls, a Mynci, a Draik, and a Moehog apologized softly in unison. But as soon as Mrs. Ginger returned to her desk, they started talking and laughing loudlyas if she hadn't disturbed them at first.

Ophelia waved a paw to quiet the girls down as she finished sipping her Snowberry Tea and giggled, "And then I told him, 'That's not a checkered lamp, that's my nursemaid'!" The girls burst out in laughter again almost falling back in their bean bag chairs.

"Oh my!" The Royal Mynci girl unfolded her paper fan and began to lightly wave it at herself, "That was a very funny joke indeed. So tell us, Ophelia, where do you plan to spend your holiday vacation? My mother is taking me to the ancient land of Shenkuu to learn more about my ancestors and how we came up from poverty to fame."

"My grandmother's sending me to Faerieland. She had built a holiday house built for me there on my birthday. I can't wait to see my bedroom suite." The Royal Draik girl wiped her mouth with a napkin after eating a bonbon.

The Royal Moehog girl was getting herself another slice of the cake before she told of where she was going, "My father opened a new snow lodge at the top of Terror Mountain and he said we're gonna be the first ones to go through those doors."

Ophelia sipped her tea again as the three curious girls leaned forward to listen in on where she would stay next. She set her cup down again and smiled, "My father planned my holiday vacation in the Golden Lunar Suites Corridor on the Virtupets Space Station!"

The girls gasped and squealed excitedly in unison, almostdeafening the whole classroom. The three started to talk simultaneously to the Royal Usul.

"The Golden Lunar Suites Corridor! Wow! Those are opening up in a few days."

"I wanted to go there too, but my father said it was either there or Terror Mountain. I wanted a wintry Christmas this year, but a starry one is starting to sound a whole lot better. Boo hoo!"

"But…outer space is still full of those Evil Fuzzles. Are you sure you want to vacation somewhere where those **_things _**are floating about?"

Ophelia waved her paw and didn't look worried one bit, "You pay attention to the phony parts of the newspaper. There is no such thing as 'Evil Fuzzles'. And even if there were, the Space Faerie is out there watching over us so I know I would be safe and protected."

"Are you _sure_ about that?" A low, menacing voice from behind Ophelia made cold shudders go down her back. She slowly turned her head around until she faced a dull-furred, red-eyefluff ball with a stitched up smile.

She screamed in terror and jumped back, frantically climbing up on the coffee table while holding her dress. She spilled the food and tipped over the tea onto the lavender faerie rug and her friends quickly scooted back to avoid getting stains on their dresses. Ophelia turned to face the evil Fuzzle again only to see a red Lupe snickering as he waved the Evil Ghost Fuzzle toy in his hand. Ophelia's face scrunched into a frown, "Oh! Fox, you scoundrel!"

The students couldn't hold back any longer and began laughing while the RoyalGirls glared at the Lupe with so much hatred. They couldn't stop replaying what they'd seen in their minds on how fast Ophelia scrambled on top of the table and the way she screamed and looked fearful.

"Quiet!" Ophelia screamed to her classmate in annoyance, "Be quiet, I said! Mrs. Ginger, can't you quiet them down? And please do something with this mongrel!" Fox kept pushing the fuzzy toy in and out of her face to irritate her even more.

Mrs. Ginger giggled a little herself but kept it well hidden. She got the class to settle down and they continued their activities. She called Fox to her and held out her hand, waving a finger at him with the other.

He smiled happily as he handed the toy over to her, "Sorry, Mrs. Ginger, but I couldn't resist. For someone who talks so big, she sure is a fraidy cat."

"Fox, you have to promise to be nice today," Mrs. Ginger spoke softly to him. "This is supposed to be a festive party and we don't want another one of Miss Ophelia's hissy fits," she winked as Fox tried to hold back his laugh.

She nodded over to the yellow Zafara sitting by the window by her lonesome and watching sadly as the snow slowly fell from the sky and covered every square inch of the front schoolyard, "Why don't you go have a chat with Zui? She doesn't seem to be doing too well. I'll give you back your Fuzzle here after class is over."

He nodded and walked over to Zui as Mrs. Ginger returned to her desk. He climbed up on the couch next to the Zafara, "Hi Zui! Did you see what I just did? Ophelia screamed like a Jub-Jub!"

"Yeah," Zui smiled weakly, her blue eyes still focused on the snow. "That was real funny, Fox."

Fox saw that she was not in a cheery mood. He knew what was really bugging her wasn't Ophelia. Zui and Ophelia were known to bicker almost every day in school or even whenever they met after school. Zui could handle any insult Ophelia spat out at her and would usually offend her twice as nasty, but nowadays, Ophelia's name-calling was beginning to sting her badly.

Zui was hatched by her owner, Rai, in the summer some years ago. It happened slowly but as the months passed, Rai made a good sum of Neopoints, currency used in Neopia, to open her own store, Rai's Shock Shop. Her shop was popularly known as the best shop for Neopians who needed a lot but could only pay a little. All her stock prices were low and fair and if it seemed that they weren't, she'd haggled with customers for a more negotiable price. She was able to start building a home for them to live in with the money she had earned and soon she had an eight-room house on the corner of Rainbow Lane, right next door to her shop.

If she wasn't rolling in dough by selling stocks, she'd play games at the local arcade where she'd win from 100 to 600 Neopoints, and sometimes 700 to 1000 if she was lucky. But one day, she decided to try a game in the Luck/Chance casino. Just one game of Scorchy Slots won her 10,000 Neopoints and since then, she developed the habit of gambling.

She would tip toe to the casino every night and gamble all her money away. She lost most of the time and when she did win, she won only enough to buy a Cheops plant or a Baggus. She even gambled to the point where she took large amount of points out of her savings account, money she was saving for the future. When that was all gone, she ended betting five of her eight rooms away and she was left with a foyer, the bedroom, and the kitchen.

During her gambling addiction, she had befriended another Neopian named Nate, Fox's owner, who was beginning to worry when he noticed Rai began coming to the casino more than usual. He stopped her one night when she was heading to the casino with only 10 Neopoints in hand. It took weeks of counseling and monitoring her but he brought her back to reality and she broke down in tears.

She was cured of her addiction but the real problem arose when she realized she may lose her shop and her home because of late bill payments. She thought she would be able to pay from the money she made in her shop, but having not enough money to buy stocks to put on the shelves, her shop was seeing its dark days. And with Christmas approaching, it seemed their holiday would not be so merry this year.

Nate tried his best to help her financially. She refused to accept any money from him, but he still hung around to help her emotionally and to help her run off arrogant buyers determined to buy her land. Ophelia found out somehow about Zui's mishap and decide to use this as an advantage to humiliate her. Fortunately, it worked, but Fox and other friends of Zui's were always there to support her.

Fox just couldn't stand her grim look anymore and thought of another topic, "Wanna go watch the movie? Everyone's really into it."

"No thanks," Zui shook her head slowly. "_How'd The Ice Faerie Saved Christmas _gets old after watching it the second time."

"Alright then. Then you want more snacks?" he looked down at her intact paper plate. "You barely touched your Cherry-tastic Faerie Pie or Fiery Faerie Chicken Nuggets. Want an Earth Faerie Brown or some Fruity Faerie Fingers? Those are getting eaten very fast." He watched as she shook her head and sighed.

His head jolted up when he heard Ophelia whining after she found a stain at hem of her dress. The three girls fussed over the upset Usul and took out a stain removal gear that was the size of a first aid kit. Fox noticed that they left their snacks unguarded, "Hey Zui, ever tried a Faerie Bonbon or a Faerie Festival Cake?"

The yellow Zafara lifted her head up, "No, why?" Then she noticed that Fox had disappeared. She turned her head to watch Fox sneaking up to the Royal Girls' table. The girls were too busy tending to Ophelia's dress to mind him. Fox helped himself by taking two bonbons and a slice of cake and quickly trotted back over to Zui.

"Nice job." Zui snickered as she wolfed down the bonbon and split half of the cake with Fox. "What you get in your goodie bag?"

"That Evil Ghost Fuzzle," he peeked in his bag, "Uh…a Bouncy Spiky Ball, one of those Metal Triangle Puzzles, a Fire Kazoo, and a gift and Red Stocking just waiting to be opened. You?"

Zui peeked in her Cybunny Goodie Bag, "A Yoyo, a cuddly Fuzzie Bear, some Click Klacks, there's a wrapped present for me and for Muffy too, a Blue Toy car and-" She went silent as she pulled out a Christmas Zafara plushie showing it to Fox.

"Uh…" Fox went into a mental panic. He was staring at Zui's dream of what kind of Neopet she wanted to be.

All Neopians knew of the Neopet Paintbrushes: different colored paint brushes that turned any Neopet into the color they so desired. They were the normal colors of red, blue, yellow, green, purple, pink, orange, white, brown, black, silver, gold, and grey, but they were special paint brushes like Ghost, Halloween, Royal, and Skunk just to name a few. Zui searched through a Paint Brush catalogue that Rai had brought home one day and saw the decorative Christmas Paint Brush. All pets came out different when painted under the paint brush, but she thought the Zafara model was beautiful: snow white fur with golden colored belly, spots on the ears, and tail tip, with two feathery wings on the back and a shiny halo hovering above the head. She begged and begged Rai to get her a Christmas paint brush for Christmas and her owner agreed she could see what she could do, but that was before her gambling spree. With the money they have now, Rai might not be able to get any presents for her pets at all; Christmas would just be an ordinary day to them.

Zui saw that Fox was speechless and quickly wiped a tear away, "It's alright, Fox. I'm a little over that now. Sometimes all dreams can't come true."

"Don't say that, Zui. Rai's doing her best to save up money now and she's doing a good job so far," he nodded, "With more hard work, I'm sure she could save enough for all of you to have a great Christmas."

The yellow Zafara listened to what her friend said carefully and nodded with him, then she opened her eyes suddenly and her ears perked up as an idea popped in her head, "That's it, Fox! You just gave me a great idea that I should've thought of a long time ago."

Fox wagged his tail excitedly, "What's the idea?"

"Meet me at my house after school and I'll tell you. With my idea, Christmas will come sooner," Zui smiled cleverly, feeling very proud of herself, then she looked out the corner of her eye when she saw something purple and pink moving toward her and turned to see Ophelia, with a scheming look on her face, walking up to her having a white patch covering over where the stain in her dress was.

Ophelia giggled that taunting giggle that all stuck-up rich girls had, "Well, well, well, if it isn't the poorest Neopian in the world and her mongrel friend. I noticed you sitting over here by your lonesome with yourgoodie bag full of cheap toys and I was wondering if you were interested in a trade: your petty toys for my Usuki doll. I'm sure father could use the material from your toys and melt them to make more Usuki doll accessories."

"I don't like those stupid Usuki dolls anyway. I'm not all girly girl and I'm not gonna fall for your dumb tricks anymore," Zui snarled and reached into her lunch box, juggling a Sniddberry in her paw."Now why don't you go back to your 'royalty corner' and stay there before you end up with another stain on your dress."

Ophelia growled, "You wouldn't dare. I'll have my father make the principal banish you from this school."

"Think I care?" Zui arched an eyebrow.

"You ungrateful little-" Ophelia fumed in frustration, and then she let out a quiet sigh. "Here I try to help you out. I was gonna give you my favorite Pretty Pink Usuki doll along with the limited edition Usuki Snowy Sweetheart Set and the very expensive Usuki Seasonal Set, but I expected as much from an unappreciative commoner such as yourself." She walked back to her friends with her nose in the air.

Fox stared at her in disbelief, "Zui, she sounded rather giving. You could've taken the doll and sets and give them to Rai to sell if you didn't like them."

Zui shook her head and grinned, "If there's one thing I learned about Ophelia is that she doesn't give anything away that's her favorite, limited, or very expensive."

As the class's final hour drew to a close, the students helped their teacher cleaned up their classroom, throwing trash and uneaten food away, sweeping up crumbs off the floor, and pushing the desks back in their normal spots. Mrs. Ginger had to give extra treats to students she asked to clean up the Royal Girls of Neopia's corner. Ophelia and her friends refused to help clean up. They believed that was the job of a maid, but unfortunately they could not bring their maids to school with them.

The dismissal bell rang and the students ran down the halls like a stampeding herd of Kaus and onto the snow-white school yard, playing on the swings and jungle gyms or having snowball fights and hiding in snow forts.

Zui seemed to cheer up once she was out in the winter snow because no one crowded the slides during this season. The metal slide was too cold and icy for the students to handle. Zui climbed up to the top of the slide with her wide scarf in hand. Fox was climbing after her as she set the scarf up on the top first then sat on it and slid down at a fast speed on the icy surface with a smile on her face. She used her hands and grabbed at the sides to skid to a slow stop at the bottom.

"Look out below!" Fox was sliding too fast to stop. He crashed into Zui and the speed he was going made him slip off himself. Both fell in a pile of soft snow and they just laughed loudly, "Let's go again!"

Zui quickly got to her feet grabbing her scarf again. She got to her feet and noticed a black limo coming around the corner and slowly pulling up to the front of the school and parked. The Royal Girls of Neopia saw the limo from the warmth of their wigwam-shaped tent. The back door and a red coiled-up carpet popped out from the bottom, rolled along the snow, and stopped at the door of their tent. Two skinny Lennies dressed in black and white suits stepped out of the back of the limo and walked on the red carpet to the tent.

Few of the curious students watched in fascinations at the tall and well-groomed birds as they walked by while most of them just continued their play on the playground, but they all knew that no one was allowed to step, run across, or even go near the red carpet no matter how colorful it made the plain white snow look.

One held the flap door of the tent open and the girls walked out one by one dressed in their favorite colored, fluffy parkas and matching muffs around their paws. They walked across the long carpet with their noses pointing straight ahead (pointing them up in the air would cause them a runny nose from the cold weather) while the second Lenny crouched inside the tent, beat the small bonfire until only a thin trail of smoke came out the hole at the top, and collected the four girls' backpacks and other belongings. He crawled out with an armload of their possessions and clumsily trailed behind the girls while the other Lenny folded up the tent and carried it under his arms, following him.

Ophelia, the last one in line, peeked from the hood of her fuchsia parka and saw Zui and Fox watching her from the slide as she walked by. She seemed to giggle victoriously and stuck her tongue out at them. Zui reached in her coat pocket and brandished the Sniddberry from earlier flashing a toothy grin. The snobby Usul girl squeaked and quickly ran to her mother, a Royal female Poogle, and grabbed onto her long dress. She began to wail and whine to her of how 'horrible' her last day of school went starting with how a student _rudely_ bounced a ball in their morning tea circle and how she had to walk down miles and miles of hallwaysto get a roll of tissue for the bathroom to how a commoner scared her witha toy and got a stain on her dress, and how another one threatened to put more stains on her.

Nova, the Poogle mother, picked up Ophelia in her arms and comforted her, "There, there, little one. We'll get you a new dress after your ballet lessons, okay? Don't cry anymore. Honestly, I told your father that Neopia Central is no place for a proper young lady like yourself. I'll have to talk some sense into him and see if he could move us to Brightvale right after this hectic holiday."

Nova waited for Ophelia's friends to seat themselves comfortably and watched as the Lenny servant loaded their things in their trunk. Ophelia heard a noise that made her turn her head and she was staring in Zui and Fox's direction. They were standing on top of the slide and both of them pulled their bottom eyelids down and stuck their tongues out at the spoiled Usul making the most offensive, yet hilarious faces. The Usul was in shock and didn't have time to make a comeback as her mother carried her into the limo with the servants clambering in after her.

Zui and Fox laughed loudly as the limo drove off with an angry Ophelia sneering at them from behind the tinted windows. "Oh man! Did you see the look on her face?"

"I wish I would've had my camera." Zui giggled as she slid down the slide, coming to a stop at the bottom again. She moved out of the way just in time as Fox was sliding down. He couldn't stop on the slippery slide and ended up falling in the snow pile at the end. Zui wrapped her scarf back around her neck, "Wanna walk with me back home? I promised Rai to pick Muffy up from day care."

Fox nodded with a lump of snow on his head. He shook the remaining snow on him, grabbed his backpack and goodie bag, and ran after Zui as she left the school yard and down the sidewalk with the other student walkers.

Zui and Fox had to squeeze through many legs and dodge many running Neopians as they walked through the crowded Neopia Central. The town seemed to be at its busiest after three o' clock. They could barely hear themselves talk as the air was filled with car horns and chatty citizens, but it got quieter once they were heading down the residential area of Chia Close

"So what are you planning to do this time, Zui?" Fox asked curiously, rememberingwhat she had said in class. "You're not thinking about paddling across the Neopian seas in 60 days again, are you?"

Zui crossed her arms, "Well, I thought it was a good idea."

Fox walked in front of her, staring at her, "You paddled into the water in a bucket and only had enough food to last you for three or four hours."

"I…would've improvised," Zui nodded reassuringly to avoid embarrassment."Besides, do you know that Zafaras are lucky? I bet if I would've ran out of food in the middle of the sea, a friendly Peohphin would offer me fish and lead me to an island where I could cook them and maybe there I could find a bigger and sturdier boat than bucket. Yup and all that would've happen if that stupid cork wouldn't have kept popping out the hole I plugged it in."

The red Lupe shook his head, "Well I hope this plan isn't as crazy as that one. So are you gonna tell me or not?"

"Patience is a vending." Zui giggled.

"That's patience is a _virtue_." Fox shook his head.

"Well, whatever! You know what I mean! Besides, I'm not gonna tell you until we get home. I wanna wait until after I get done with one partof the plan until you tell me it's crazy."Zui walked up to an unusual looking building.

While other houses were painted calm and homely colors, the house Zui and Fox stared up at had a light purple color with a yellow picket fence with the letters ABC and the numbers 123 painted sky blue on the front sides of the house. Zui knocked on the door, looking up at the dangling wooden sign that hung on it and had 'Ms. Adele's Rosy Daycare' chiseled in large, colorful letters.

The door opened and a sisterly-looking Cybunny dressed in a white and green plaid dressed stepped out. She smiled down at the familiar Neopet, "Zui! Nice to see you're well."

"Hi Ms. Adele," Zui smiled"is Muffy ready to go?"

Ms. Adele nodded and stepped aside to let Zui and Fox in out of the cold. The corridor they walked down was more purples, blues, and yellows giving the interior a more comforting and fun-looking environment for the youngest Neopet. Ms. Adele stopped in front of the door that had a baby gate in front of it. Behind the gate, baby Neopets played without care with the many toys, squeaking and giggling happily.

Ms. Adele searched the room with her eyes through the crowd of lively babies and pointed to a baby Acara who was running across the room while pushing a baby Kacheek on a purple skateboard. "There's Muffy."

The little Acara was oblivious to her big sister's arrival and continued pushing around her friend on the skateboard, giggling with him. "She did real well today," Ms. Adele said to Zui."She behaved at recess, slept all the way through nap time, and even shared half of her chocolate chip cookie with her new friend there."

Zui nodded, "That's good to know. Rai will be glad to hear it." The Cybunny opened the gate for Zui and she stepped on the light blue carpet looking at her sister, "Muffy, it's time go home now."

"No no! No wanna go home!" The baby Acara giggled and sat on the skateboard with the laughing Kacheek as it rolled on its on across the carpet.

The Zafara sighed, "C'mon, Muffy. We have to go. Who's gonna help me eat all those Sugar Doughnuts that Rai brought back home?" She snickered thinking that would bring her running to her.

Muffy just giggled as she and her Kacheek friend jumped off the skateboard and ran into an inflatable fort that looked like an exact duplicate of King Skarl's Meridell Castle, "We eat doughnuts here." Muffy giggled looking through the window of the fort.

Zui groaned, "Muffy, I'm not gonna chase you…better yet…" She peeked around the doorway at Fox who had stayed by the front door when they had walked in. "Fox, I need your help."

"Uh-uh! No way, Zui!" The Lupe shook his hand and waved his paws, "I'm not doing it again."

Zui walked up to him grinning, "Aw c'mon, please? I can't get Muffy to come out the playroom and you know how much she loves you."

"That's just it! Please, Zui, not again. It's embarrassing." He pleaded to her.

Zui tilted her head as she thought, "Okay, Fox, here's the deal: you help me get Muffy out and when my next allowance builds up, I'll owe you a Chocolate Chia. How about that?"

Fox leaned against the wall looking up at the ceiling, then back down at her, "Well….I do like Chocolate Chias…does a Chocolate Milkshake come with it?"

"But only if you get Muffy out for me." Zui pointed him to the doorway.

Ms. Adele opened the gate again and Fox tiptoed past the baby gate with a nervous look. He heard's Muffy giggling from above and looked up. She was on the back of a Baby Uni as it flew just below the ceiling. The small Uni looked like it had got the hang of flying, but it was growing tired and Muffy's weight wasn't helping much either. It slumped and Muffy slid off, still laughing as she landed in a pile of Starry pillows. Ms. Adele rushed in and caught the exhausted Uni in her arms just as it began to fall.

Fox watched as Muffy climbed out the pillow pile and sighed heavily. He lowered his head down and forced a friendly grin on his muzzle, "Muffy, guess who?"

Muffy's big ears twitched at the voice and turned her head to see Fox standing in the middle of the room and squealed happily, "PUPPY!" She ran across the room, leaping across pillows and blocks that laid in the way, and pounced on the Lupe's head, hugging his entire face.

"MURF!" Fox grunted as the baby Acara clung to his muzzle in a loving hug. Zui laughed loudly, fallingbackwards and holding her gut. Mrs. Adele hid her giggle by holding her hand over her mouth. Fox walked out carrying Muffy on his snout. Zui tried to tug her little sister off of his face, but Muffy clung on tighter. She whined loudly, sending a high pitched squeak in Zui's ear, and climbed up to top of Fox's head, sitting there and looking content. Mrs. Adele walked them to the door, handed Zui all of Muffy's belongings and her report card, and waved them a cheerful goodbye.

Zui tried to slip on Muffy's snowcap and gloves while the squirming little Acara remained on Fox's head as they headed to the corner of Chia Close and Rainbow Lane. Fox glared over at Zui, "Don't you forget you still owe me that Chocolate Chia."


End file.
